Archive for July 2008
We’re Outta Here!
So tomorrow Dan and I have our very first real, honest-to-goodness vacation, the kind of vacation where you pack the car and drive out of state for a week, and don’t come back until you’ve seen mountains and oceans and such. We’re heading down to Charleston to visit my dear friend Jan, then we’re driving up to Pigeon Forge to enjoy the Smoky Mountains. I have not been to South Carolina since 1992, when Dad took us to Myrtle Beach for spring break. That trip was memorable because I ended up with sun poisoning, so here’s hoping that doesn’t happen to me this time.
I’ll be writing in my notebook, and will post selections along the way, or when we get back.
Happy travels to you all this week, wherever you end up.
Namaste… MS
Now What?
So the Saginaw Bay Writing Project’s Summer Institute is officially at an end, and I have no idea what to do with myself now. The obvious answer is “Duh! Keep writing!” Which of course I will do. What I will miss is the community, the knowing that others were going to read my work, take it seriously, and give me feedback on it. Right now, I need some serious advice on one of my personal pieces, yet there’s no one to give it to me.
Ideally, I’d like to see my Writing Response Group again, but since that won’t happen, I’d like to have some of my co-workers offer their advice on it, but here’s the thing: As much as writing teachers may say they want that sense of community, as much as they say they want to have a feedback circle, they don’t follow through. At least not in my case. I’ve sent co-workers things, and even handed them hard copies, but nothing. No feedback. No acknowledgement after awhile I even gave them a piece of writing to look at. I get more consistent feedback from my students, and it surprises me that they would take my writing more seriously than supposed professionals. Crazy, eh?
And honestly, I trust my students to understand my writing better than my co-workers anyway — and to give me better feedback.
Soon, though, I shall be whisked away for an out-of-state vacation. Maybe that’s what I need to help clear my head and transition back to non-SBWP existence.
Is anybody listening?
Namaste… MS
